María-José, hailing from Mexico City, is a program lead at the HPI School of Design Thinking since 2020, where she has co-designed and digitized our academic programs. She has also been coaching design thinking since 2016 with projects spanning public, private and non-profit sectors. Including City Administration of Lübben, Landeshaupstadt Potsdam, BMW, Boiler Room, Roche, Humboldt University, Universidad de la Habana, British Council, city_lab, Melton Foundation, Politics for Tomorrow, Bundesverband Deutscher Stiftungen, D.Collective e.V., among others. For her, Design Thinking is more than an innovation-led methodology executed by an iterative process. It’s a mindset that challenges competitive social behaviors and fosters teams' diversification which leads to collaborative innovation.
Her educational background entails an MA in public policy from the Hertie School of Governance, specializing in Public Innovation Labs in Germany. A year certification of Basic and Advanced Track in Design thinking at the D-School which was life-changing. She also holds a BA in political science and public administration from the Universidad Iberoamericana.
With 10+ years of experience being a social entrepreneur: founding social enterprises/NGOs, both in Mexico City and Berlinfocusing on community building, sustainability and women’s empowerment both in marginalized and indigenous communities. You can find more about her work in her website.
She is passionate about diversity, decolonisation and climate justice.
